Oprah to feature 'Freedom Riders' author Ray Arsenault, Ph.D. ‘81

On Wednesday, May 4, Brandeis alumnus Ray Arsenault, Ph.D. '81 will appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with nearly 200 men and women whose courageous efforts in support of the Civil Rights Movement he chronicled in his book "Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice" (2006, Oxford University Press).

Arsenault's book recently inspired the documentary film "Freedom Riders," which will be broadcast on PBS on May 16. Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson directed the film.

Arsenault and several of the original Freedom Riders screened the documentary for a group of Brandeis alumni in the Chicago area on May 1.

The John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Arsenault earned his Ph.D. from the Irving and Rose Crown School of American Civilization at Brandeis. A specialist in the political, social and environmental history of the American South, he has taught at the school since 1980.

Categories: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

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